An improved keyboard layout

ABSTRACT

There is provided herein an improved keyboard layout that has a particular alphabetical, numerical, functional and symbolic key layout that enhances keyboard layout compactness and hand specialisation. The symbolic key layout allows for the incorporation of a much larger symbol character set wherein more frequently used symbols are more readily accessible and more conveniently located. This particular layout may be overlaid with extended Latin and, in embodiments, Greek characters to facilitate typing of most Western European languages in ways which do not affect the symbol key layout, facilitates finding of extended characters and offers one-to-one key mappings between basic and extended symbols for each language.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to an improved keyboard layout and relatedfunctionality.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 shows the conventional “IBM style” keyboard, referred to hereinas a standard keyboard layout. As can be seen, the standard keyboard ischaracterised in comprising a main typing area comprising three rows ofalphabetical characters in traditional QWERTY layout. Symbol charactersadjoin the alphabetical characters at the right-hand side thereof andfunction keys terminate, such as backspace, shift, enter keys and thelike terminate the right hand side. The alphabetical keys and the symbolkeys constitute 34 keys.

The numeric keypad is located on the right-hand side of the keyboard farto the right of the function keys for calculator-style input. Thesenumbers are repeated across the top row of the typing area.

Directional navigation keys and further function keys may be locatedaround the alphanumeric keys and overlay the numeric keypad.

The present invention seeks to provide an improved keyboard layout,which will overcome or substantially ameliorate at least some of thedeficiencies of the prior art, or to at least provide an alternative.

It is to be understood that, if any prior art information is referred toherein, such reference does not constitute an admission that theinformation forms part of the common general knowledge in the art, inAustralia or any other country.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

There is provided herein and improved keyboard layout that confersadvantages including alphabetical, numeric, symbol, directional andfunctional key placement for enhanced layout compactness.

This layout further allows for alphabetical and numeric key handspecialisation.

Additionally, the symbol placement and the manner of usage thereofgreatly increases the number of symbols available.

Furthermore, the symbols are placed in a way that is language invariant,thereby allowing the same symbol layout for differing languages.

This particular layout further allows for the placement of Latincharacters that allows for the typing of most Western European extendedLatin characters languages. As such, this layout can type languages usedby well over 1 billion people in the world and almost all WesternEuropeans, meaning that it can be mass produced in a much largerquantity than any regional keyboard, reducing production anddistribution costs for producers.

Additionally, the particular layout of the characters facilitates thefinding of the extended Latin characters when typing.

Yet further, this same layout may further allow for typing of most ifnot all Latin script based languages and the Greek language by using aparticular character mapping.

The character mapping may have a language specific key mapping for eachlanguage which allows a 1-to-1 key mapping between each extendedcharacter and associated basic character which may be selected using aselection key, thereby avoiding the use of dead keys, multiple keypresses, autocorrect or other software related processes of the priorart.

Specifically, FIG. 2 shows an improved keyboard layout in accordancewith a first embodiment.

The keyboard in accordance with this embodiment is characterised in thatit comprises an alphabetical character zone and an adjacent numerickeypad arranged in a particularly compact form, thereby being suited forsmall form factor laptop, notebook devices and the like and reducingfinger travel distance when typing, especially between alphabetical andnumeric characters.

Furthermore, a function key zone is located to the right of the keypadsuch that all of the alphabetical, numeric and commonly used functionkeys are located closely together. Furthermore, such configurationallows handed typing specialisation wherein, for example, the left-handmay type the alphabetical characters while the other hand is occupied,such as holding a mouse, telephone or the like. Furthermore, theright-hand may specialise in numeric characters, being especiallyadvantageous for accountants and software requiring extensive input ofnumbers.

The modification of the prior art keyboard layout to the present layoutcomprises increasing the number of keys within the alphabetical-symbolictyping region of the prior art keyboard from 34 keys (i.e. 26alphabetical keys and 8 symbol keys) to 35 or 36 keys for the presentalphanumeric typing zone of the present keyboard.

Such entails the introduction of an additional key to the right-handside of the L character key, the transposition of the P character keyfrom the top row to the bottom for and the relegation of the symbol keysfrom adjacent the alphabetical characters to a row above thealphanumeric typing zone.

In this way, the present keyboard comprises 35 or 36 keys arranged in atop, middle and bottom rows.

The top row comprises 12 keys beginning at the left-hand side thereofwith alphabetical characters starting with the character Q and endingwith the character O and ending at the right-hand side thereof withthree numeric characters.

The middle row comprises 12 keys beginning at the left-hand side thereofwith alphabetical characters starting with the character A in endingwith the character L in any of the right-hand side thereof with threenumeric character keys.

Furthermore, the bottom row comprises 11 or 12 keys beginning at theleft-hand side thereof with alphabetical characters beginning with thecharacter Z and ending with the character P and ending at the right-handside thereof with three numeric character keys. In the embodiment wherethe third row comprises 11 keys, the number 0 may be located beneath theother numbers. Alternatively, the bottom row may comprise 12 keyswherein the number 0 is be located between the number 7 and the letterP.

As can be appreciated, this particular arrangement is a particularlyspace efficient placement of the alphabetical and numeric keys.Furthermore, this arrangement allows for a square ending of the numerickeypad at the right-hand side thereof making allowance for the touchtyping of numbers which facilitates fast typing.

Furthermore, removing the symbol keys away from the alphanumeric typingzone to the top row is advantageous because current keyboard layouts areoptimized to type symbols for a single or small range of languages. Assuch, the position and number of symbols on current keyboards isaffected by the amount of letters in the target language. This meansthere is a wide range of location for symbols on different layouts.

Also, not all current keyboards have a complete range of symbols. Assuch, some symbols which are not found on a keyboard layout can only beinput with the help of software which makes them application dependent.

This improved keyboard layout separates symbols and letters/numbers intoseparate rows. As such, the position of symbols does not change withregional version of this layout such that all layouts can type the samesymbols.

Furthermore, this arrangement of symbols into discreet areas makesallowance for complete columns of function keys from top to bottom ofthe keyboard arrangement on both left and right hand sides of thekeyboard thereof which facilitates typing.

Furthermore, the present arrangement allows for a wide range of symbolswherein each symbol key may comprise a quadrant of symbols which may beselected utilising either or a combination of shift & keypressesdescribed in further detail below.

The symbols provided in the layout herein include all the symbols on acurrent standard keyboard plus common punctuation symbols that are usedin Afrikaans, Albanian, Azerbaijani, Basque, Breton, Catalan, Czech,Danish, Dutch, English, Esperanto, Estonian, Finnish, French, German,Greek, Greenlandic, Hawaiian, Hungarian, Icelandic, Irish, Indonesian,Italian, Javanese, Kazakh, Kurdish, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese,Malaysian, Maori, Norwegian, Chinese Pinyin, Polish, Portuguese,Romanian, Sami (Northern), Samoan, Scots Gaelic, Serbo Croatian, Slovak,Slovene, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Tahitian, Tetum, Tongan,Turkish, Turkmen, Uzbek, Vietnamese, Welsh, Xhosa, Zulu, Chinese,Japanese and Korean. A number of symbols which are usually imputedthrough the use of software rather than direct typing may also beincluded.

As such, with the present layout, all these symbols are available fortyping, irrespective of the language or application used and arefurthermore always found in the same location.

The symbols may further be logically grouped and therefore easy to findand use despite their increased number. Since these symbols are allavailable on the keyboard, they are not application dependent and can betyped into all applications that enable typing.

Furthermore, in a preferred embodiment, the function keys of thefunction key zone are mirrored on adjacent sides of the alphanumerictyping zone. For current keyboard layouts, function keys such as esc(escape), delete left (backspace), delete right (delete), tab(tabulate), and enter (return) as well as sometimes alt (alternative),alt gr (alt graphics), ctrl (control), fn (function), Windows and menuoccur only once each on the current standard keyboard layout. That makesit inconvenient to use when typing with one hand, such as when using amouse.

The present function keys may comprise from top to bottom: esc, deleteright, a delete left with tab as an alternative function, a return withtab as an alternative function, shift and control leys. Next to controlmay be a new selection key that functions in a way that is similar tothe combination of alt gr, fn, Windows and menu, and then beside that analt key. The new key enables the typing of alternative letters, symbolsand functions on keys.

This layout makes it convenient to access all these function keys witheither hand meaning that single handed typing is made easier. It alsomakes it possible to use the mouse with either hand while typing,enabling a two-mouse setup. Furthermore, the adjacent location ofcertain function keys reduces hand travel distance wherein, for example,the standard keyboard required significant hand travel between escapeand enter keys, being especially problematic for software applicationsutilising these keys frequently, such as Microsoft Excel.

The present layout further allows for the typing of Western Europeanlanguages. Specifically, most languages of Western Europe besidesEnglish use additional letters beyond the basic 26 Latin letters,however current keyboards do not enable all of these letters to bedirectly typed in a single layout.

For example, in order to type all the letters required for a multitudeof languages, so that any word in those language can be typed,cumbersome steps such as changing keyboard layout, use of dead keys,autocorrect or other software related processes are necessary.

This makes the typing of multiple languages, such as French and Germanor Spanish, Swedish and Turkish much slower and more difficult thantyping any single language.

Simply merging existing regional layouts to make a pan-regional layoutis not possible because layouts are mutually exclusive with certainletters occurring on different keys in different layouts.

This improved keyboard layout places the letters ä, æ, á, â, å, à, ã, ç,é, ë, è, ê, {hacek over (g)}, í, ì, |, i, ï, î, ij, μ, ñ, ó, ò, õ, ö, ø,ô, œ, ş, β, ú, ù, û, û and ÿ that are used in Danish, Dutch, Finnish,French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish,Turkish and other languages together with the basic 26 letters andnumbers 0 to 9 in the same single layout disclosed above as is shown inFIG. 3.

In accordance with this embodiment, the keyboard comprises a symbol keywhich is selectively operable to toggle the associated Latin character.For example, to type the character ä, the letter q would be press whilethe symbol character is held.

Over and above the utilisation of these additional characters, thesecharacters are arranged in the keyboard in a particular way tofacilitate speed typing. Specifically, the letters may be arranged suchthat letters cluster around the same basic letter, or a key thatresembles that letter, as well as being organized into patterns suchthat all the letters with acutes are place on the same key as theoriginal basic letter, all letters with diaresis are placed in the toprow, all letters with graves in the middle row, and all letters withtildas in the bottom row, the letters are easy to find and type.Furthermore, the extended Latin characters may be arranged according tofrequency wherein, for example, the character ÿ is marginalised givenits infrequent use.

This enables all these languages as well as other languages such asEnglish and Indonesian to be typed with a single keyboard layout,meaning that it is as fast to type any combination of these languages asit is to type any single one of these languages. This reduces typingcosts for users and increases the quality of written communication.

Furthermore, FIG. 4 shows a yet further embodiment that allows fortyping of a much wider range of Latin character and Greek languages.

Currently many languages have a specific regional keyboard layout thatis mutually incompatible with other layouts. This makes it difficult forproducers to supply keyboards in all layouts so some languages miss outon keyboards that conveniently type all the letters of their language ina convenient way.

This improved keyboard layout comprises a key mapping that places theletters ā, ą, ă, {hacek over (a)}, č, ċ, ĉ, ć, d′,

, ð,

, ě, ę, ē, ė, ġ, ĝ, ǵ,

, ĥ,

, ī, {hacek over (i)}, ĵ,

, ĺ, l′,

,

, ň, ń,

,

,

, ō, ő, {hacek over (o)}, ř,

, ŕ, š, ś, ŝ,

, t′,

,

,

, ū, ů, ű, {hacek over (u)}, {umlaut over (ū)}, {umlaut over ({hacekover (u)})}, {umlaut over (ú)}, {umlaut over (ù)}, {hacek over (w)},{acute over (w)}, {grave over (w)}, {umlaut over (w)},

, ý, {grave over (y)}, ŷ, ž, ż, ź, α,β, γ, δ, ε, ζ, η, θ, ι, κ, λ, μ, ν,ξ, o, π, ρ,

, σ, τ, υ, ϕ, χ, ψ, ω, {acute over (α)}, {acute over (ε)}, {acute over(η)}, {acute over (ι)}, ó, {acute over (υ)}, {acute over (ω)}, {umlautover (ι)}, {umlaut over (υ)},

and

that are used to type Afrikaans, Albanian, Azerbaijani, Basque, Breton,Catalan, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Esperanto, Estonian, Finnish,French, German, Greek, Greenlandic, Hawaiian, Hungarian, Icelandic,Irish, Indonesian, Italian, Javanese, Kazakh, Kurdish, Latvian,Lithuanian, Maltese, Malaysian, Maori, Norwegian, Chinese Pinyin,Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Sami (Northern), Samoan, Scots Gaelic,Serbo Croatian, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog,Tahitian, Tetum, Tongan, Turkish, Turkmen, Uzbek, Vietnamese, Welsh,Xhosa, Zulu and other languages together with the basic 26 letters andnumbers 0 to 9 in a single layout. The appropriate characters from thiskey mapping may be selectively displayed according to a chosen language.Keyboard layouts for specific languages or groups of languages arecomprised of a subset of letters of the character map.

In this regard, the key mapping locates the key characters such thatmost if not all of these languages can each be written without theinstance of a single key being required to type two letters (unlessthese letters have no upper case version or have an upper and lower caserelationship).

Furthermore, current standard keyboards are generally restricted in thenumber of glyphs they can type to those that have been programmed intothe keyboard. This makes it technically difficult to add a new symbol orcustomize the layout. However, new glyphs are invented periodically andother glyphs rise and fall in popularity, making their inclusion orremoval from the layout an issue, yet there is little that users can doto change the layout. Various users would benefit from typing specificglyphs but most will be unable to customize their keyboard to allow themto type them.

As such, the present layout may have a new key, the “hack” key, which ifdouble clicked, opens a dialogue box as shown in FIG. 6 which allows theuser to manage their keyboard on screen. This dialogue box displaysinstalled languages 106, “hack packs” 107 and options 108. Singleclicking of the “hack” key activates the selected “hack pack”. Thisdisables the number and direction key functions and these keys insteadtype the customized glyphs of the “hack pack”. Through this process, thekeyboard layout is infinitely customizable.

This allows users to select customization that suits their needs andwants and for the keyboard layout to be easily supplemented whennecessary.

Now, with regards of the prior art, EP 1693736 A2 (HIGH TECH COMPUTERCORP. (TW)) 23 Aug. 2006 [hereinafter referred to as D1] discloses akeyboard directed to the problem of alphabetical key space efficiencyfor small form factor personal digital assistant (PDA) keyboards.

As such, D1 proposes various key arrangements for optimising the spacefor the alphabetical characters that essentially entails truncating thelongest top typing row by placing the P key elsewhere, such as above theletter O (see FIGS. 2A-C) below the letter L (see FIG. 3B).

However, D1 is not directed to keyboard optimisation compactness forboth alphabetical and numerical keys and, to the extent that it doescomprise numeric keys, D1 teaches the superimposition of the numericalkeys atop the alphabetical keys which teaches away from the presentsolution.

It cannot necessarily be said that a light of the teaching of D1 thatthe skilled person would have tried the claimed layout of 35 keycomprising three rows respectively comprising 12 keys, 12 keys and 11/12keys, each starting with alphabetical keys, terminating with threenumeric keys and having function keys to the right thereof, let alonethe addition of an extra key adjacent the L character key or thepositioning of the symbols across and atop the top row. With regard tothe latter, whereas FIG. 2B of D1 shows a top symbol key row, such isshown adjacent the P key which teaches away from the present layout and,furthermore, where D1 does show the P key terminating the bottom row inFIG. 3A, a quasi-function/symbol key row is shown below the bottom row,again teaching away from the claimed solution).

There is no motivation from D1 for the skilled person to adopt thepresent layout. Specifically, D1 is silent on the problems of handspecialisation, symbol key language-independent placement, let aloneconfigurations allowing for the typing of Western European languages.

Other aspects of the invention are also disclosed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Notwithstanding any other forms which may fall within the scope of thepresent invention, preferred embodiments of the disclosure will now bedescribed, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanyingdrawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows a standard keyboard layout of the prior art;

FIG. 2 shows an improved keyboard layout in accordance with anembodiment;

FIG. 3 shows the layout of FIG. 2 comprising additional Latin charactersfor the typing of Western European languages;

FIG. 4 shows the layout of FIG. 2 comprising yet further additionallanguages for typing a much wider range of Latin character and Greeklanguages;

FIG. 5 shows an alternative layout to FIG. 4 wherein the zero key isplaced on the bottom row of alphanumeric keys;

FIG. 6 shows the utilisation of the “hack” key to modify the layout ofthe keyboard, including is as exemplified in FIGS. 7 and 8; and

FIGS. 9-17 show the present layout principles applied to small formfactor screen layouts, such as for mobile phones; and

FIG. 18 shows an alternative layout to FIG. 9 wherein the return key andscreen up and down keys are transposed, and the bottom row ofalphanumeric and symbol keys is shifted one position to the left.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 2 shows a keyboard layout. The layout comprises 35 or 36alphanumeric keys arranged to define a left-hand side alphabeticalcharacter typing zone 101 and a right hand side numeric keypad 102 whichcomprise top, middle and bottom rows.

The top row comprises 12 keys beginning at the left-hand side thereofwith alphabetical character starting with the character Q and endingwith the character O and ending at the right hand side thereof withthree numeric characters.

A middle row similarly comprises 12 keys beginning at the left-hand sidethereof with alphabetical character starting with the character A andending with the character L and ending at the right hand side thereofwith three numeric character keys.

The bottom row may comprise 11 or 12 keys beginning at the left-handside thereof with alphabetical character is beginning with the characterZ and ending with the character P and ending at the right hand sidethereof with three numeric character keys. For the embodiment whereinthe bottom row comprises 11 keys, the 0 number key may be locatedbeneath the 7 number key. Where the bottom row comprises 12 keys, the 0the key may be located between the P character and 7 number keys.

A row of symbol keys 104 are arranged above the top row of alphanumerickeys.

A row of symbol and punctuation keys 105 may be arranged below thebottom row of alphanumeric keys.

Furthermore, a function keys zone 103 is located to the right of thenumeric keypad 102. The function keys zone 103 may also extend aroundthe periphery above the row of symbol keys 104 and to the left of thealphabetical character typing zone 101. Symbol and punctuation keys 105may also be located under the bottom typing row.

The various zones of the keyboard, alphabetical character typing zone101, the numeric keypad 102, the function keys zone 103, the symbol keys104, and the symbol and punctuation keys 105 may each be coloured adifferent colour to indicate the various functional roles for each zone.

To the right of the space bar may be a comma and full stop. Thesepunctuation symbols are positioned between the numbers and letters andare often used when writing both letters and numbers. To the left of thespace bar and further away from the numbers may be the question mark andapostrophe. These punctuation symbols are generally used when writingletters, and less frequently with numbers. In a specific embodimentshown, the symbols adjoining the space bar contain ”, ', “, ', !, ?,

, ¿, space, ;, ,, ,,,

, :, ., ⋅, ∘ ◯, ª and º. Variants may contains the symbols . . . , -, /and \ which may be grouped onto keys in the following way: ”, ', ” and'; !, ?,

and ¿; space; ;, ,, ,, and

; :, ., ⋅∘, 0, ◯, ª and º; and . . . , -, /and \.

Each of the basic punctuation symbols of full stop, comma, question markand apostrophe may be paired with another related symbol, so that fullstop goes with colon, comma with semi-colon, question mark withexclamation mark and apostrophe with double quote mark.

Each key may also have additional symbols that are generally used inlanguages other than English. For example, the full stop may also bepaired with the ideographic period sign and centre dot. The comma may bepaired with the ideographic comma and German quote mark. The questionmark and exclamation mark may be paired with the Spanish invertedquestion mark and inverted exclamation mark. The apostrophe and quotemark may be paired with the opening versions of the two. Furthermore, 0may be paired with the ideographic number zero and ordinal indicators.Additional common punctuation comprising ellipsis, dash, back slash andforward slash may be put together on one key.

The symbol key row 104 may comprise symbol keys that contain &, @, ¼, ¹,£, $, ½, ², ¥, €, ¾, ³, ∘, ⋅, □, ▪, [,], {, }, (, ), «, », <, >,

, \, ↑, ↓, ˜, =, ←, →, %, /, ÷, √, {circumflex over ( )}, *, |, ×, _, -,-, -, #, +, º and . . . .

These may be been grouped onto single key quadrant comprising &, @, ¼and ¹; £, $, ½ and ²; ¥, €, ¾ and ³; ∘, ⋅, □ and ▪; [,], {and }; (, ), «and »; <, >,

and

,

, \, ↑ and ↓; ˜, =, ← and →; %, /, ÷ and √; {circumflex over ( )}, *, |and ×, /, -, - and -; #, +, º and . . . .

The arithmetic function symbols +, −, *, / and = may be arranged in arow from right to left and placed directly above the numbers. Thetelephone symbols * and # may be placed in a similar position to a phonebut above the numbers rather than below.

The line symbols, _, -, - and - may be grouped on one key with | next tothem. Tick and cross may be on adjacent keys. The key with * may alsohave the × symbol on it, while the key with/may also have ÷.

In mathematical terms, *, × and {circumflex over ( )} all relate toincreasing the size of a number by a multiple number of times. As such,these symbols are all put on the one key. Similarly %, /, ÷ and √ allrelate to decreasing the size of a number by a certain amount and thesemay also occur together on one key.

Furthermore, the %, / and √ are grouped as they slope one direction, andsimilarly,

and \ slope in the other direction. Furthermore, = and ˜ do not slopeand both can refer to types of equivalence.

Arrows may be grouped together on two keys. Bracket-like symbols may begrouped together with the opening version at the top and closing versionat the bottom of the same key.

Bullet point-like symbols may be located on one key. Currencies may begrouped together as are fractions and superscript numbers. The symbols @and & may be grouped together. @ may be the first symbol of the keyboardmaking it easy to find and type since this key is very important tointernet use.

In a preferred embodiment, the function keys of the function zone 103are mirrored in adjacent sides of the keyboard. Function keys maycomprise from top to bottom, escape (esc), delete left (backspace),delete right (delete) a delete left with tab (tabulate) as analternative function, enter (return) with tab (tabulate) as analternative function, shift and ctrl (control), while next of ctrl is anew selection key 105 for alternative character and function selections,and next to that alt (alternative). Running between the two esc buttonsmay be caps lock 113, the function keys F1 to F10, a new “hack” key 114,and a new “numbers off” key 115.

FIG. 3 shows a further embodiment wherein extended Latin characters aremapped onto their corresponding basic character counterpart keys.

These additional characters may comprise letters and letters withdiacritics including ä, œ, á, â, å, à, ã, ç, é, ë, è, ê, {hacek over(g)}, í, ì, |, i, ï, î, ij, μ, ñ, ó, ò, õ, ö, ø, ô, æ, ş, β, ú, ù, û, ûand ÿ, paired with the standard 26 letters of the English alphabet andthe numbers 1 to 9.

There is shown the specific parings of a preferred embodiment of thepairing of q with ä, w with œ, e with é, r with ë, t with ê, y with ü, uwith ú, i with í, o with ó, 1 with ö, 2 with ô, 3 with ï, a with á, swith ş, d with à, f with è, g with ğ, h with û, j with ù, k with ì, lwith ò, 4 with ø, 5 with î, 6 with ÿ, z with â, x with å, c with ç, vwith ã, b with β, n with ñ, m with μ, p with õ, 7 with i and i, 8 with æand § and 9 with ij.

FIG. 4 shows the arrangements of the 36 glyph keys with the letters andletters with diacritics ā, ą, ă, {hacek over (a)}, č, ċ, ĉ, ć, d′,

, ð,

, ě, ę, ē, ė, ġ, ĝ, ǵ,

, ĥ,

, ī, {hacek over (i)}, ĵ,

, ĺ, l′,

,

, ň, ń,

,

,

, ō, ő, {hacek over (o)}, ř,

, ŕ, š, ś, ŝ,

, t′,

,

, u′, ū, ů, ű, {hacek over (u)}, {umlaut over (ū)}, {umlaut over ({hacekover (u)})}, {umlaut over (ú)}, {umlaut over (ù)}, {hacek over (w)},{acute over (w)}, {grave over (w)}, {umlaut over (w)},

, ý, {grave over (y)}, ŷ, ž, ż, ź, α,β, γ, δ, ε, ζ, η, θ, ι, κ, λ, μ, ν,ξ, o, π, ρ,

, σ, τ, υ, ϕ, χ, ψ, ω, {acute over (α)}, {acute over (ε)}, {acute over(η)}, {acute over (ι)}, ó, {acute over (υ)}, {acute over (ω)}, {umlautover (ι)}, {umlaut over (υ)},

and

paired with the standard 26 letters of the English alphabet and thenumbers 1 to 9.

It shows the specific parings of q with ä,

, ā and {acute over (α)}, w with

, ŵ, ě and ω, e with é, ę and ε, r with ë, ř,

, ŕ and ρ, t with ê, e,

, t′,

and τ, y with ü and υ, u with ú,

, u′ and θ, i with ì,

and ι, o with ó, o′ and Greek letter o, 1 with ö, ō and {acute over(ε)}, 2 with ô, {hacek over (o)} and Greek letter ó, 3 with ï, {umlautover (ū)} and Greek letter {umlaut over (ι)}, a with á, ą and α, s with

, š, ś, ŝ and σ, d with à, d′,

and δ, f with è, ė and ϕ, g with ğ, ġ, ĝ, ǵ and γ, h with û, ū,

, ĥ and η, j with ù, ĵ, ů, ű and ξ, k with ì,

, ĺ and κ, l with ò, l′,

, ł and λ, 4 with ø, ő and {acute over (η)}, 5 with

,

and {acute over (υ)}, 6 with ÿ, {umlaut over (ú)} and {umlaut over (υ)},z with â, ž, ż,

and ζ, x with å, ź, ă, {hacek over (a)} and χ, c with ç, č, ċ, ĉ, ð and

, v with ã, ý, ć and ψ, b with

, {grave over (y)} and β, n with ñ, ň, ń,

,

and Greek letter v, m with μ, p with õ, ī, {grave over (w)} and π, 7with

, i, {grave over (w)}, {umlaut over (ŭ)} and Greek letter

, 8 with æ, ŷ, {hacek over (u)}, § and {grave over (ω)}, and 9 with ij,{umlaut over (w)}, {umlaut over (ù)},

and

.

FIG. 5 shows the alternative arrangement from FIG. 4 of the 36 glyphkeys with the letters and letters with diacritics ā, ą, ă, {hacek over(a)}, č, ċ, ĉ, ć, d′,

, ð,

, ě, ę, ē, ė, ġ, ĝ, ǵ,

, ĥ,

, ī, {hacek over (i)}, ĵ,

, ĺ, l′,

,

, ň, ń,

,

,

, ō, ő, {hacek over (o)}, ř,

, ŕ, š, ś, ŝ,

, t′,

,

, u′, ū, ů, ű, {hacek over (u)}, {umlaut over (ū)}, {umlaut over ({hacekover (u)})}, {umlaut over (ú)}, {umlaut over (ù)}, {hacek over (w)},{acute over (w)}, {grave over (w)}, {umlaut over (w)},

, ý, {grave over (y)}, ŷ, ž, ż, ź, α,β, γ, δ, ε, ζ, η, θ, ι, κ, λ, μ, ν,ξ, o, π, ρ,

, σ, τ, υ, ϕ, χ, ψ, ω, {acute over (α)}, {acute over (ε)}, {acute over(η)}, {acute over (ι)}, ó, {acute over (υ)}, {acute over (ω)}, {umlautover (ι)}, {umlaut over (υ)},

and

paired with the standard 26 letters of the English alphabet and thenumbers 1 to 9.

FIG. 6 shows the dialogue box that is displayed on screen when the hackkey is double pressed or long pressed. It has three sections: languagepacks 106, hack packs 107 and options 108. The language packs 106 show,when active, the languages that have been installed. Primary languages109 may be highlighted. The selected language may be framed in themiddle of the dialogue box.

FIGS. 7 and 8 show examples of hack packs. The hack pack has a name anda layout of glyphs or other things that are typed or activated whenpressed. The name of the hack pack corresponds to the name in the listof hack packs. The hack pack is activated by first making it theselected hack pack in the dialogue box, then single clicking the hackkey. When active, the usual actions of the number keys are suspended andinstead each key types according to the hack pack.

FIGS. 9 to 11 show the various components of the layout of the keyboardfor small devices such as phones and tablets. Each screen is a standardlayout, 9 keys wide and 4 keys tall, with two keys merged into one onthe bottom row to form the space key. Each screen has a heading thatenables it to be listed in a list of installed screens.

The screen may have a choice 110 to hide the screen, which if selected,requires the double clicking of the screen up or screen down keys 111 toreveal it. The screen has a layout for glyphs, screen up or screen downkeys 111, delete left and delete right keys 112, space bar and an enterkey. The screen up and screen down keys 111 may display the top rightglyph of the screen that they will move to if pressed.

FIGS. 9 to 10 show the layout for the basic letters screens. FIG. 9shows the auto hide button 110 which if selected, causes the littleletter screen to appear once one option has been chosen from thecapitals screen. FIG. 11 show the layout of the numbers and symbolsscreen. This screen contains all numbers, common punctuation and commoninternet symbols. FIGS. 12 and 13 show the layout of the symbolsscreens. FIGS. 14 to 17 show the layout of the extended Latin screen.FIG. 18 shows an alternative layout to FIG. 9 an alternative layout toFIG. 9 wherein the return key and screen up and down keys aretransposed, and the bottom row of alphanumeric and symbol keys isshifted one position to the left.

These letters may be arranged according to a clear and repetitivepattern so that, despite there being 104 letters, equal to four timesthe standard English alphabet of 26 letters, they can be easily located.

The letters may be arranged in broad alphabetical order from left toright. They are also divided into rows by diacritic such that letterswith acutes, graves, macrons and strokes as well as ligatures aregenerally in the top row; letters with diaresis, ogoneks, horns,cedillas, tildas, rings, dots and commas below are generally in themiddle row; letters with carons, circumflexes, breves and double gravesare generally in the bottom row and within a row, and there is a regularpattern among diacritics so that acutes come before graves which comebefore macrons, diaresis comes before ogoneks which come before tildaswhich come before rings, and carons come before circumflexes which comebefore double graves.

The foregoing description, for purposes of explanation, used specificnomenclature to provide a thorough understanding of the invention.However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that specificdetails are not required in order to practice the invention. Thus, theforegoing descriptions of specific embodiments of the invention arepresented for purposes of illustration and description. They are notintended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise formsdisclosed; obviously, many modifications and variations are possible inview of the above teachings. The embodiments were chosen and describedin order to best explain the principles of the invention and itspractical applications, they thereby enable others skilled in the art tobest utilize the invention and various embodiments with variousmodifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It isintended that the following claims and their equivalents define thescope of the invention.

1. An improved keyboard layout comprising: at least 36 alphanumeric keysarranged to define a left-hand side alphabetical character typing zoneand a right-hand side numeric keypad, comprising: a top row comprising12 keys beginning at the left-hand side thereof with alphabeticalcharacters starting with character Q and ending with character O andending at the right-hand side thereof with three numeric characters: amiddle row comprising 12 keys beginning at the left-hand side thereofwith alphabetical characters starting with character A and ending withcharacter L and ending at the right-hand side thereof with three numericcharacter keys; a bottom row comprising at least 11 keys beginning atthe left-hand side thereof with alphabetical characters beginning withcharacter Z and ending with character P and ending at the right-handside thereof with at least three numeric character keys a row of symbolkeys arranged above the top row; and a right-hand side function key zoneto the right of the numeric keypad comprising three function keyscorresponding to each row.
 2. A layout as claimed in claim 1, whereinthe three function keys comprise backspace, enter and shift.
 3. A layoutas claimed in claim 1, wherein the bottom row comprises 12 keyscomprising 0 between P and
 7. 4. A layout as claimed in claim 1, furthercomprising a lower function row beneath the bottom row comprising aspace bar and a comma and full stop to the right of the space.
 5. Alayout as claimed in claim 4, further comprising question mark andapostrophe to the left of the space bar.
 6. A layout as claimed in claim5, further comprising the symbol ”, ', “, ', !, ?,

, ¿ to the left of the space bar.
 7. A layout as claimed in claim 5,further comprising two keys to the left of the space bar comprisingcharacter groupings comprising ”, ', ” and '; !, ?,

and ¿.
 8. A layout as claimed in claim 5, further comprising, ;, ,, ,,,

, :, ., ⋅, ∘ to the right of the space bar.
 9. A layout as claimed inclaim 8, further comprising two keys to the right of the space barcomprising character groupings comprising, ;, ,, ,,,

and :, ., ⋅, ∘.
 10. A layout as claimed in claim 9, wherein at least asubset of the symbol keys comprise a quadrant of symbols comprising adefault symbol and three selectable symbols.
 11. A layout as claimed inclaim 10, wherein the selectable symbols comprises a first selectablesymbol accessible by a press of a first key, a second selectable symbolaccessible by oppressive a second key and third selectable symbolaccessible by a press of the first and second keys.
 12. A layout asclaimed in claim 11, wherein the default symbol is selected according touse frequency.
 13. A layout as claimed in claim 11, wherein the defaultsymbols are arranged from left to right according to use frequency. 14.A layout as claimed in claim 10, wherein the symbol keys comprise &, @,¼, ¹,

, $, ½, ², ¥, €, ¾, ³, ∘, ⋅, □, ▪, [,], {, }, (, ), «, », <, >, <, >,

, \, ↑, ↓, ˜, =, ←, →, %, /, ÷, √, {circumflex over ( )}, *, |, ×, _, -,-, -, #, +, º and . . . .
 15. A layout as claimed in claim 10, whereinthe symbol keys are grouped into quadrants comprising at least one of:&, @, ¼, ¹;

, $, ½, ²; ¥, €, ¾, ³; ∘, ⋅, □, ▪; [,], {, }; (, ), «, »; <, >, «, »;

, \, ↑ and ↓; ˜, =, ←, →; %, /, ÷, √; {circumflex over ( )}, *, |, ×; _,-, -, -; and #, +, º, . . . .
 16. A layout as claimed in claim 10,wherein the symbol keys comprise arithmetic function symbols +, −, *, /and = in a row from right to left.
 17. A layout as claimed in claim 10,wherein the arithmetic function symbols are placed directly above thenumbers.
 18. A layout as claimed in claim 10, wherein telephonesymbols * and # are placed above the numeric keypad.
 19. A layout asclaimed in claim 10, wherein *, × and {circumflex over ( )} are locatedon one key.
 20. A layout as claimed in claim 10, wherein %, /, ÷ and √are located on one key.
 21. A layout as claimed in claim 1, furthercomprising selectable extended Latin characters ä,

, á, â, å, à, ã, ç, é, ë, è, ê, {hacek over (g)}, í, ì, |, i, ï, î, ij,μ, ñ, ó, ò, õ, ö, ø, ô,

,

,

, ú, ù, û, û and ÿ assigned to the alphanumeric keys.
 22. A layout asclaimed in claim 21, wherein the layout comprises a selection key forselection of an extended Latin character.
 23. A layout as claimed inclaim 22, wherein the extended Latin characters are clustered accordingto letter type.
 24. A layout as claimed in claim 22, wherein theextended Latin characters are clustered according to diacritic type. 25.A layout as claimed in claim 22, wherein the extended Latin charactersare arranged according to frequency use type.
 26. A layout as claimed inclaim 21, wherein the selectable extended Latin characters are pairedaccording to at least one of: q with ä, w with

, e with é, r with ë, t with ê, y with ü, u with ú, i with í, o with ó,1 with ö, 2 with ô, 3 with ï, a with á, s with

, d with à, f with è, g with ğ, h with û, j with ù, k with ì, l with ò,4 with ø, 5 with ï, 6 with ÿ, z with â, x with å, c with ç, v with ã, bwith

, n with ñ, m with μ, p with õ, 7 with i and i, 8 with æ and § and 9with ij.
 27. A layout as claimed in claim 1, further comprising furtherextended Latin and Greek characters ā, ą, ă, {hacek over (a)}, č, ċ, ĉ,ć, d′,

, ð,

, ě, ę, ē, ė, ġ, ĝ, ǵ,

, ĥ, œ, ī, {hacek over (i)}, ĵ,

, ĺ, l′,

,

, ň, ń,

,

, o′, ō, ő, {hacek over (o)}, ř,

, ŕ, š, ś, ŝ,

, t′,

,

, u′, ū, ů, ű, {hacek over (u)}, {umlaut over (ū)}, {umlaut over ({hacekover (u)})}, {umlaut over (ú)}, {umlaut over (ù)}, {hacek over (w)},{acute over (w)}, {grave over (w)}, {umlaut over (w)},

, ý, {grave over (y)}, ŷ, ž, ż, ź, α,β, γ, δ, ε, ζ, η, θ, ι, κ, λ, μ, ν,ξ, o, π, ρ,

, σ, τ, υ, ϕ, χ, ψ, ω, {acute over (α)}, {acute over (ε)}, {acute over(η)}, {acute over (ι)}, ó, {acute over (υ)}, {acute over (ω)}, {umlautover (ι)}, {umlaut over (υ)},

and

assigned to the alphanumeric keys.
 28. A layout as claimed in claim 27,wherein the further extended Latin and Greek characters are assignedaccording to a mapping and wherein the mapping comprises languagespecific maps.
 29. A layout as claimed in claim 28, wherein eachlanguage specific map comprises a 1-to-1 key mapping between a basiccharacter and an associated extended Latin and Greek character for eachlanguage.
 30. A layout as claimed in claim 29, wherein the mappingcomprises pairings comprising at least one of: q with ä,

, ā and {acute over (α)}, w with

, ŵ, ě and ω, e with é, ę and ε, r with ë, ř,

, ŕ and ρ, t with ê, e,

, t′,

and τ, y with ü and υ, u with ú,

,

and θ, i with í,

and ι, o with ó,

and Greek letter o, 1 with ö, ō and {acute over (ε)}, 2 with ô, {hacekover (o)} and Greek letter ó, 3 with ï, {umlaut over (ū)} and Greekletter {umlaut over (ι)}, a with á, ą and α, s with

, š, ś, ŝ and σ, d with à, d′,

and δ, f with è, ė and ϕ, g with ğ, ġ, ĝ, ǵ and γ, h with û, ū,

, ĥ and η, j with ù, ĵ, ů, ű and ξ, k with ì,

, ĺ and κ, l with ò, l′,

, ł and λ, 4 with ø, ő and {acute over (η)}, 5 with î, {hacek over (i)}and {acute over (υ)}, 6 with ÿ, {umlaut over (ú)} and {umlaut over (υ)},z with â, ž, ż,

and ζ, x with å, ź, ă, {hacek over (a)} and χ, c with ç, č, ċ, ĉ, ð and

, v with ã, ý, ć and ψ, b with

, {grave over (y)} and β, n with ñ, ň, ń,

and Greek letter v, m with μ, p with õ, ī, {acute over (w)} and π, 7with i, i, {grave over (w)},

and Greek letter {acute over (τ)}, 8 with æ, ŷ, {hacek over (u)}, § and{grave over (ω)}, and 9 with ij, {umlaut over (w)}, {umlaut over (ù)},

and

.
 31. A layout as claimed in claim 1, wherein a right hand edge of thenumeric keypad is linear and is bordered by a column of function keysthat comprises, in order from top to bottom: esc, delete right, deleteleft with tab (tabulate) as an alternative function, return with tab(tabulate) as an alternative function, shift and control functions. 32.A layout as claimed in claim 1, wherein a left hand edge of thealphabetical character typing zone is bordered by a column of functionkeys that comprises, in order from top to bottom: esc, delete right,delete left with tab (tabulate) as an alternative function, return withtab (tabulate) as an alternative function, shift and control functions.33. A layout as claimed in claim 1, wherein the alphabetical charactertyping zone, numeric keypad and right-hand side function zone aredifferently colour.